Augmentation mammaplasty.

In the early 1900s, the best method for enlarging small breasts was to inject them with paraffin. Within 50 years, researchers turned to the free grafting of autogenous material to achieve breast enlargement. Then came the fast and easy silicone injections of the 1950s and 1960s. For the last 20 years, the surgical implantation of alloplastic materials has been used for augmentation mammaplasty. This article examines the development of augmentation mammaplasty, identifies the current procedures and looks at the possibility for overcoming the greatest complication, capsular contracture. The management of capsular contracture is difficult because it is the natural, enhanced scarring response of tissue that has been subjected to hosting a foreign body, the prosthesis. There is no simple solution to this problem, only the possibility that through manual manipulation of the augmented breast tissue, the intensity of the contracture can be minimized.